Vivek Ramaswamy speaks to students During Convocation Oct. 2

Vivek Ramaswamy spoke at Liberty University for the Oct. 2 Convocation. After performances by Charles Billingsley and the Worship Collective, Ramaswamy was welcomed to the stage.

The politician, author and entrepreneur gave a speech about America’s purpose and future.

“In order to make America great again, we need to know the story that made America great the first time around,” Ramaswamy said.

Much of Ramaswamy’s speech centered on the character and contribution of America’s Founding Fathers. The former presidential candidate focused a portion of his narrative on how Benjamin Franklin and the men that founded America were essentially “renaissance men.”

“It was a culture that valued education,” Ramaswamy said.

According to Ramaswamy, men like Benjamin Franklin were more the norm than the exception during America’s inception. Ramaswamy spoke of the brilliance and diligent nature of the men who founded this country. Instead of using their leisure time as people do today, the Founding Fathers chose to further educate themselves on various topics.

“We should expect more of our citizens, more of ourselves,” Ramaswamy said.

Ramaswamy said today’s culture lacks curiosity. Americans have the freedom to discover what they want to achieve, and Ramaswamy emphasized the vitality of using this freedom. He said Americans have to make their own unique decisions to enact change.

“When the pack runs one direction, you run the other way,” Ramaswamy said.

Junior Adah Weigner found the final minutes of Ramaswamy’s speech to be the most impactful.

“The last 10 minutes, he was great; he was speaking facts,” Weigner said.

During Friday’s Convocation, students participated in the annual Hymnology Convocation. The video segments and graphics created by Liberty’s creative team brought the Vines Center to life as an orchestra, the Worship Collective and musicians led students in hymn-based worship.

Students learned the history of hymns and its significance to the Christian faith. President Dondi Costin also took the stage and shared his testimony and the effect hymns have had on his life.

“These songs are the soundtrack for my life,” Costin said.

Costin said he remembers sitting in church next to his grandmother when he felt called to receive Jesus as his savior. He said his grandmother pushed him toward the altar of his church when “Just as I Am” was being played.

“I knew that God was calling me to salvation,” Costin said.

Within this same brief message, Costin spoke of the truths found in hymns and spiritual songs. Costin said people have a visceral reaction to music, and it is a gift from God.

“With these hymns of faith, we also have truths of the faith,” Costin said.

After the president’s message, students were shown a video on the history of “Amazing Grace” and were led in a rendition of the song. Chancellor Jonathan Falwell also joined the Convocation stage to announce the Worship Collective’s new “Hymnology: All to His Name” EP, which was played as the last song of the service.

“We brought it (Convocation) back to more traditional music, and that was really cool,” senior Peter Schumacher said.

Lunney is a news reporter for the Liberty Champion.